Too Much TV: Your TV Talking Points For Wednesday, January 19th, 2022
I'm back....
Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Wednesday, January 19th, 2022. I'm writing this from the Twin Cities, where AllYourScreens HQ is finally feeling better after two weeks and a lot of antibiotics.
DISNEY MAKES EXECUTIVE MOVES IN ITS STREAMING BUSINESS
The Walt Disney Co. announced earlier today that it is making some moves in the executive ranks of its streaming business. Michael Paull has been promoted to the new role of president, Disney Streaming, with oversight of Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ and Star+. Paull, previously head of Disney+, reports to Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution (DMED) chairman Kareem Daniel. Paull's old role will be filled at a later date.
Joe Earley, previously EVP of marketing and operations for Disney+, has been appointed president of Hulu and reports to Paull. Earley replaces Kelly Campbell, who late last year left Hulu to take the reins of NBCUniveral’s Peacock streaming service.
Rebecca Campbell will chair the International Content and Operations Group, which will be the new hub for international content creation. She remains in charge of Disney’s international media teams and reports directly to Disney CEO Bob Chapek.
The International Content and Operations group is Disney’s fourth content creation group and will operate alongside the Studios Content, General Entertainment Content and Sports Content groups.
YOUTUBE WINDS DOWN ORIGINAL SCRIPTED EFFORTS
It's not a surprise to anyone who has been following YouTube, but the company announced on Wednesday that it will be winding down most of its original programming efforts. As part of that shift, YouTube's global head of original content Susanne Daniels will exit the company:
Going forward, YouTube will only directly fund programming that is part of its Black Voices and YouTube Kids funds, and also spend more on YouTube Shorts as well as live shopping, according to Kyncl.
The quick take from some reporting I've seen on this move is that it's a failure of execution. That despite all of YouTube's resources, it was unable to create original programming that could draw a substantial audience.
But that's a misread of the situation. The problem with creating original programming for YouTube is that the site's power users don't consume YouTube content in a linear way. A perfect example of those users is my 16-year-old son. He "watches" YouTube more than any other service, despite living in a household with access to probably 30 streaming services. He watches official 8-minute recaps of NFL and NHL games, and subscribes to a number of gamer-oriented channels. He also watches a lot of semi-conspiratorial historical programs YouTube surfaces on his recommended list. He often uses YouTube as a version of radio, listening to Minecraft and Fortnite gaming channels in the background while he's doing other things. And he has discovered 1-2 hour-long music videos of anime-centric instrumental music he listens to in the background when he's not in the mood for Spotify.
YouTube has a large, devoted userbase that sees it as their primary streaming entertainment choice. But it's not on their radar when it comes to original programming. Aside from the money spent along the way, there wasn't a downside to YouTube trying its hand at original programing. But that effort was always going to be a longshot and today's move suggests that YouTube executives have finally decided to cut their losses.
PBS IN THE DIGITAL AGE
As I write this, I'm listening to TCA panels for some of PBS's upcoming programming. It's the second of three days of TCA presentations for the network and as always, the shows are unique and compelling.
But it's also a reminder that for a growing number of television viewers, public television is less of a viewing option for them. With the exception of YouTube TV, none of the virtual cable TV systems (Hulu Live, TV, Sling, etc) carry a PBS signal. Which means for millions of television viewers, PBS doesn't exist. Unless you decide to watch via an old-school antenna. And if you do that, you don't have a way to record or time-shift programming. If viewers donate a minimum of $5 per month to their local PBS station, they can watch on-demand PBS programming on the web or via the PBS app. A live stream of the local PBS is also available, although that stream doesn't always reflect the same programming viewers could watch over-the-air.
Granted, PBS has a complicated ownership structure which makes it difficult to execute national programming strategies. But the fact that millions of viewers don't have frictionless access to live PBS programming is a challenge to its future viability. PBS has some great content and it deserves to be seen as widely as possible.
THE RICH NICHE
In his newsletter "The Rebooting," Brian Morrissey talks about the fact that while this is a golden era for newsletters and smaller start-up media companies, the majority of these publications are targeting upper-income readers, leaving most of the world out of the conversation:
That exacerbates the elitism problem. The people paying hundreds of dollars a year for subscriptions are on the high end of the socio-economic scale. It’s no surprise that news publishers tend to cater to them. Anyone reading the Times can see this upper-class sensibility. The biggest challenges facing societies in the future – climate change, inequality, migration – all disproportionately affect the non-rich. It’s hard to see how trust in news can be reversed if much of it is directed towards and caters to the rich.
So while it’s great to see a new crop of publishers spring up, some with backing and some bootstrapped, there’s clearly gaping holes in providing credible, unbiased information to broader audiences, ie, the 70% of American households who have under $100,000 in annual income, a common threshold for determining "affluence."
This trend is especially evident in the entertainment news world, where established sites like Variety and The Wrap are moving more content behind a premium subscription paywall. And newer upstarts suck as Puck and The Ankler are charging for access to all of their content. It makes sense, since media executives and industry people have a budget for job-related "research." But I think it opens up opportunities for those of us who can figure out ways to provide worthwhile content without sticking it behind a paywall.
SPEAKING OF ENTERTAINMENT NEWS SITES
The NY Times has a quick piece on The A.V. Club, which is losing most of its Chicago-based staff after the company decided to force the staff to move to Los Angeles (for the same pay) or lose their jobs:
A G/O Media spokesman, Mark Neschis, said in an email, “We are sorry that these Chicago staffers will not be making the move with The A.V. Club to Los Angeles.” On the matter of compensation, he said, “We do regular compensation audits and we feel The A.V. Club’s pay scales are very competitive with the rest of the industry, and look forward to attracting top candidates to join the site.”
Mr. Neschis added that the relocation plan, which is meant to place the publication closer to the industry it covers, was shared with the staff more than two years ago. That timeline was disputed by the Writers Guild of America, East, the union body that the Onion Union is affiliated with. A spokesman for the guild said that A.V. Club employees learned of the plan Dec. 2, when they were told “that they either move to L.A. or lose their job.”
The A.V. Club has an iconic role in entertainment coverage and for long-time fans its gradual decline has been a depressing thing to see play out. The irony of the forced move to L.A. to be "closer to the industry" is that one of the primary attractions of the A.V. Club was the fact its coverage had a Midwest-centric approach that made it different from its competition. The last thing the entertainment news world needs is yet another web site full of coverage from young content monkeys based in L.A.
IN THE WORLD OF SMALLER STREAMERS
I have a couple of interviews coming up this week on AllYourScreens.com that might be of interest. On Thursday, I have an interview with Gregor Angus, CEO of True Royalty TV. That streamer focuses on Royal families around the world. Both with contemporary coverage as well as historical programs. The streamer also has a regular live talk show, which focuses on more breaking news. While the various Royal families aren't my go-to viewing choice, this is a programming niche that is both underserved and upscale.
On Friday, I have an interview with Nordic Entertainment Group’s (NENT) EVP and Chief Content Officer, Filippa Wallestam. NENT runs Viaplay, one of the leading streamers in the Nordics and Baltics. Viaplay is in the midst of a more aggressive international rollout, which includes the U.S. The Nordic version of Viaplay is a full-blown streaming offering, which includes licensed and original content, as well as live sports and a number of live channels. The U.S. version focuses just on Nordic programming, with about 1,100 hours of content available at launch. She has a unique perspective on the American streaming market and it was interesting to me that the majority of Viaplay's programing at launch won't have dubbed audio.
ODDS AND SODS
* Amazon Prime Video has announced that Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power will premiere on September 2nd.
* Fox is premiering the new celebrity dance competition series The Real Dirty Dancing on February 1st.
* Nasdaq predicts that Netflix's increased subscription price hints towards the figures their Q4 financial report. The last time they lifted subscription prices in January, was following record breaking subscriber additions in Q4 2020.
WHAT'S NEW FOR WEDNESDAY
Here's a quick rundown of all the new stuff premiering today on TV and streaming:
Assembled: The Making Of Hawkeye (Disney+)
El marginal (Netflix)
Growing Belushi (Discovery)
Heavenly Bites: Mexico Series Premiere (Netflix)
Home Inspector Joe Series Premiere (HGTV)
Juanpis Gonzalez: The Series Premiere (Netflix)
The Puppet Master: Hunting The Ultimate Conman (Netflix)
The World According To Jeff Goldblum Season Premiere (Disney+)
Too Hot To Handle Season Premiere (Netflix)
Click Here to see the list of all of the upcoming premiere dates for the next few months.
SEE YOU THURSDAY!
If you have any feedback, send it along to Rick@AllYourScreens.com and follow me on Twitter @aysrick.